DARK Act Defeated

Senate Vote Reflects Citizen Demands

The Deny Americans the Right to Know, or DARK Act, was defeated in the U.S. Senate in March, representing a major victory for consumers. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) spearheaded the large-scale citizen opposition to a bill that would have outlawed all state-level labeling laws of genetically modified (GMO) food ingredients nationwide; it was intended to keep consumers in the dark about the genetically engineered content of their food.

Scott Faber, EWG senior vice president for government affairs, says, “Consumers have made their voices heard to their elected representatives in the Senate and they said clearly, ‘We want the right to know more about our food.’ We remain hopeful that congressional leaders can craft a national mandatory compromise that works for consumers and the food industry.”

The development is evidence that the EWG Just Label It campaign is on the right track, and the group plans to support the recently introduced Biotechnology Food Labeling Uniformity Act targeting a national mandatory standard for GMO labeling. Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, explains, “This bill finds a way to set a national standard and avoid a patchwork of state labeling laws, while still giving consumers the information they want and deserve about what’s in their food.”